


The Future Belongs to the Bold

by myrtlebroadbelt



Category: Dark (TV 2017)
Genre: 1980s, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:02:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26099074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myrtlebroadbelt/pseuds/myrtlebroadbelt
Summary: It’s hard to picture him, this young man with his hair falling into his eyes, one day sitting behind her desk, calling the shots.After returning from 2020, Claudia runs into Aleksander at the power plant.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	The Future Belongs to the Bold

After the technician leaves with the vial, Claudia sits on the edge of her desk.

Exhaustion washes over her, like it’s just been waiting for an opportunity. She couldn’t sleep last night, and her day has been spent in a race against time that she only just learned she was running. 

She reaches for the article about her father and reads it again, as if she’s going to discover some new detail that will save his life. She feels useless just sitting here, but she wants to examine the results of the God particle analysis as soon as they come back.

One thing at a time, she tells herself, refolding the paper.

That’s when she sees Aleksander Köhler walking past her office, wearing coveralls and a yellow hardhat.

Without thinking, Claudia strides over to the door and calls out to him. 

He turns, looking around as if he imagines her to be addressing someone else. She gestures for him to join her, and it’s only as she’s watching him approach that she realizes she has no idea what she intends to say to him.

“Ms. Tiedemann,” Aleksander says with a stiff nod.

“Do you have a moment?” Claudia asks, stepping aside to let him in.

She directs him to the sofa, and he removes his hardhat before sitting down. She takes the seat across from him.

There’s something uncanny about this, like running into someone you dreamed about the night before. It’s hard to picture him, this young man with his hair falling into his eyes, one day sitting behind her desk, calling the shots.

She can’t help but feel a twinge of bitterness when she thinks about how hard she had to work to make up for being a woman — all the money her father spent to send her to school, all the time she sacrificed with Regina.

They wouldn’t offer the position to just anyone, she knows. And there’s something to be said for climbing up from the bottom, even if his name is sure to have given him a boost.

_Her_ name, she reminds herself.

“Is everything all right?” Aleksander asks, and Claudia realizes that she’s retreated too far into her own head again.

“Yes, of course,” she says. “I just ... wanted to ask how you’re doing. Here at the plant. You’ve been here for some time now. Six months, is it?”

Aleksander sits back a little further on the sofa. “Seven.” 

He looks relieved. Maybe because he expected this to be a confrontation about him and Regina.

She had guessed there was something there. It certainly wasn’t a coincidence that Regina started putting effort into her appearance as soon as this new _friend_ arrived in town, although Claudia had thought it might just be a crush.

Seeing their wedding announcement put that suspicion to rest.

“I’m doing fine,” Aleksander says now. “I’ve been learning a lot. My supervisor tells me I can be considered for a promotion next year.”

“And is that what you want?” Claudia asks. “To move up? Work here long-term?”

Aleksander takes a moment to consider this, as if it’s the most important question he’s ever been asked. Then he nods, resolute. “I’d like to make something of myself.”

He’s so earnest, Claudia would probably believe him even if she hadn’t seen his future.

She had liked him, that first day when he sauntered into her office asking for work. He was persistent, like she was at that age. Like she still is, much to Bernd’s annoyance, as if he wasn’t the one who told her to _take what she wants_ all those years ago.

Sure, he was rough around the edges — her father would have taken one look at his leather jacket and thought up a reason to arrest him. But Claudia needed someone to weld her secrets shut, and Aleksander fit the bill.

It helped that he wasn’t from around here.

“Remind me,” she asks him now. “Where is it you’re from?”

The tension returns to his posture. “Marburg.”

“And what brought you to Winden?”

He briefly glances away, before snapping his eyes back to hers. “I needed a fresh start,” he says, and leaves it at that.

He’s hiding something, that much is clear. But then, so is Claudia. And she hired him to help her with it, so it should hardly offend her that he has prior experience.

“Well,” she says, opting to dispense with the interrogation, “I’m sure you have a bright future ahead of you.”

Claudia immediately wonders if that was the right thing to say, or if it will only make him complacent. She still doesn’t know how all of this works. Have they always had this conversation, or is she changing things with every word she speaks?

“You’ll have to work very hard, of course,” she makes sure to add. “And you must be patient. Things will take time, but they will be worth the wait.”

Claudia is almost envious of him — she wishes she had more waiting to do. She’s taken time for granted, all these years, and now she seems to be running out of it.

_In the end_ , her older self had said, _life is just a collection of missed opportunities_.

She’s been trying to understand what she had meant by it — what she had meant by all of it. That’s another thing she had said: _You don’t understand it yet. But you soon will._

Claudia isn’t sure she wants to.

“Thank you, Ms. Tiedemann,” Aleksander says then, once again drawing her out of her own thoughts. “For giving me a chance here. I won’t let you down.”

Claudia blinks at these last few words. 

She’s half-tempted to ask if he knows something about all of this that he’s not letting on. But there’s nothing in his face to suggest that he meant anything deeper by it.

The thing is, she had no idea until he said it that it was exactly what she needed to hear.

The past week has felt like she’s been dropped into the caves without a light. She still doesn’t quite know what the future holds, even though she’s been there. There are so many things she hopes to prevent.

But if it does happen the same way — if she is destined to become the woman with the long white hair who sat in this very spot a few days ago — it’s nice to know someone will be there to pick up the pieces she leaves behind.

Not just here at the plant, but for Regina.

Claudia clears her throat and stands up. “I’ll let you get back to work, then.”

Aleksander, seeming caught off guard by the conversation's abrupt end, quickly gathers up his hardhat and follows her to the door. Claudia pauses before pushing the handle.

“Thank you, Aleksander,” she tells him, in case she never gets another chance.

He just shrugs, flashing a closed-mouth smile. Claudia opens the door for him, and he disappears around the corner. She stands there for a moment before returning to her desk.

It’s a shame, she thinks as she falls into her chair, that they never had him over for dinner.

**Author's Note:**

> We see how Claudia's introduction to time travel affects her interactions with Regina and Egon, so I wanted to explore how she might react to Aleksander after learning about his future.


End file.
